The Odyssey H O M E R

The Odyssey
HOMER
New Terms
 Homeric – 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the
Greek poet Homer, his age(time period), or his
writings. 2. Of epic proportions: heroic.
 Odyssey – 1. A long wandering or voyage usually
marked by many changes in fortune. 2. an
intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest.
 (source: Merriam-Webster.com)
What is the Odyssey?
 The Odyssey is an Epic Poem as told by the great
Greek poet Homer. It is the story of Odysseus, a man
from Ithaca, who is trying to return home to his wife.
Whatchu mean, Epic Poem?
 Epic Poems are stories that have been fitted to the
conventions of poetry (e.g. – rhyme and meter), are
often quite long, and are meant to be performed.
Much of the foundation of story telling lies in the
conventions ascribed to Epic Poetry, and we would
not have much of the “western canon” without the
foundation that was given to us.
But Mr. K, how is that different from any other
poem?
 Because of these 5 things!
 Praepositio – opens with the theme
 Invocation – calls upon the gods
 In Media Res – starts in the middle
 Enumeratio – catalogues and genealogies
 Epithet – repetition of phrases
Alright, but give me some other examples…
 Can do! There are a number that have popped up
over the ages such as:
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Gilgamesh(Mesopotamian)
Ramayana(Hindu)
Iliad/Odyssey(Homer)
Theogony(Greek)
Aeneid – Virgil(Roman)
Metamorphoses – Ovid(Greek/Roman)
Buddhacarita(Indian)
Beowulf(Old English)
The Divine Comedy – Alegheri(Italian)
Paradise Lost – Milton(English)
Overload, Mr. K! Slow down!
 Sorry, but there are a lot. Almost every major
language has an epic poem attributed to it. However,
the only ones that we are going to be interested in in
this unit are The Odyssey and The Iliad. Mostly
because they are the only two that have anything to
do with Homer.
Okay, I think we get that…but who is Homer?
 Tricky Question…
 Most likely a poet born around 850-800bc
 Possibly a group of poets/rhapsodes who are credited as
“Homer”
 Wrote/spoke two major works in the Western Canon
The Iliad
 The Odyssey
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His two works helped mold the ancient Greek civilization,
inspired forms of speaking, and developed a writing style.
So it’s not this guy?
http://the-simpsons.otavo.tv/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/082408-0758-reviewthes1.png
Sorry Minions, it’s actually this guy…
http://www.greatbookssummer.com/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=8d7968
b2-18d9-4449-95c5-f349550e1ebc
Okay, okay. Cool. Let’s move on.
 Sure thing. What would you like to hear about
next(we’ll cover them all eventually)
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Odysseus
Greek Gods
Conventions of Poetry
Ancient Greece
Odysseus
 The hero of our story
 Trojan War
 Where has he been?
 Why?
 What is his goal?
 Getting home to Penelope and Telemachus
 Protect his men
Greek Gods
 Gods play a large role in classic Greek literature.
Unlike the different gods of modern religion, Greek
gods were not omniscient. Therefore they could be
fooled, persuaded, aggravated, betrayed, deceitful,
manipulative, irrational, opinionated, etc.
 Deus ex machina – machine of the gods
 Take a direct place in the affairs of men
Important Gods in Odyssey
 Calypso – Sea goddess that has imprisoned Odysseus at
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the beginning of the story
Zeus – King of the gods. God of thunder, lightning,
awesomeness
Apollo – The Sun god. God of Music, poetry, prophecy
and medicine
Poseidon – God of the sea, earthquakes, horses, and
storms
Athena – Goddess of skills, wisdom and warfare
Cronus – Titan ruler of the universe, Zeus’ father(What
else might he be the god of?)
Poetic Conventions
 Line – a single phrase of poetry
 The Odyssey has 12,110
 Stanza – a group of lines with a common theme
 Canto – A group of stanza with a common theme
 Rhyme – Rhyme, if you don’t know what I mean,
think Dr. Suess
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I do not like them Sam I Am/I do not like green eggs and ham
 Meter – The length of a line of poetry; specifically
with regard to the stress of the line
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Dactylic hexameter
Dactylic Hexameter
 A type of rhythmic schema for a poem. Seen almost
purely in Greek and Latin writings, it is commonly
known as the “Heroic Hexameter”, due to its use in
Epics.
 Difficult to construct in English because of the way that it
is stressed. Each foot is made up of one stressed and two
unstressed syllables. Most sentences in English do not
follow this pattern, and it must be carefully
written/planned in order to work out well.
 An Example:
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This is the | forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and the |
hemlocks – Evangeline - Longfellow
But Mr. K, why is ancient Greece important?
 First and foremost, without Greece, there would be
no Mr. K. So consider yourselves lucky!
 Greece is the birthplace of/has fostered many things
that we hold in high esteem:
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Democracy
Music
Literature
Poetry
Logic/Philosophy
This seems like it might be difficult, how are we
going to remember all of this information?
 This Powerpoint will be posted onto the PBWorks
page for my class.
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AKALLIMANISKHS.PBWORKS.COM
 There will also be a few helpful links such as:
 www.En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey
 www.sparknotes.com/lit/odyssey
 And a few others that I haven’t found quite yet.
 But don’t worry! We’re not reading the whole thing,
that would take FOREVER. We’re just reading
excerpts.